Page 26 of Home Run

“Mildred, he plays for the Lions. TheNew YorkLions. Weare nota New York family. What’s the matter with you?”

“Stop calling me that, it not even my name!”

He jumped up. He had barely dried off, so water droplets flew everywhere. “I’m going to kick his ass.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see you try.”

“You think I couldn’t kick his ass?”

“You couldn’t even kickmine.”

I squealed as he reached over to grab me, no doubt an attempt to throw me in the pool like the hundreds of times he had before. I’d learned quickly that size doesn’t always equal strength and my height meant I could kick him in the shins effectively enough that he couldn’t pickme up.

“Enough. Both of you,” my mom snapped and pointed at my brother, rubbing his leg where I’d made contact. “You can’t do that anymore, be careful of her.”

Her words were sobering enough to stop the both of us. Without another look at me, Matty got up and stormed off, muttering something about being an uncle under his breath. My mom turned back to me after we watched him disappear into the house.

“He’ll come around, don’t worry. It’ll just take a bit of getting used to, for all of us.”

“I know. I am sorry, Mom.”

“I know you are, honey, but we’ll get through it together. As a family.” She straightened her shoulders, composing herself. “You wanna grill tonight, Doug will be home soon, or we can get takeout. What do you feel like?”

“I’m happy with anything, Mom, thanks.”

Standing up, she cupped my face in her hands before leaning down to kiss my cheek. “I want one of those mugs that says ‘World’s Best Grandma.’”

The tears came out of nowhere, too fast for me to brush away. “You got it.”

As she walked back into the house, I grabbed my phone and went to sit on the edge of the pool, my legs dangling in the water. The ringtone only sounded once before Tanner answered.

His face filled the screen, black Lions baseball cap on backwards, and from the sweat dripping down his neck, I’d interrupted a workout. Blue eyes danced with amusement, a broad smile stretched from ear to ear, and for a second I totally forgot what I was calling about. I was suddenly grateful for it. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

“How’d it go?”

“Could have been worse.”

“Hey, that’s something.” He laughed.

“Yeah.” I paused as he wiped a hand over his face. “Are you sure you’re still on board if I go through with this? I don’t want you to feel pressure.”

“Pressure me up, Mills. I’m in this with you. I’ll support you all the way.”

My eyes stung from the amount of tears I’d shed recently, but these felt different. Decisive. A little more hopeful.

“Then I guess we’re gonna be parents.”

SIX

TANNER

“Hey, Mills, wait up.Mills.”

She spun around at the sound of someone yelling her name. Her eyes darted through the dozen or so people crossing the sidewalk before landing on mine as I jogged toward her, expertly dodging a couple of guys heading in the opposite direction to me.

I was lucky I’d spotted her, because I didn’t know whereexactlyI was supposed to have been headed. Just that the doctor’s office was in the brownstone-style building next to the bronze skyscraper not far from my apartment on Tenth, which is what she’d said in her message to me when I’d asked where her doctor was.

She’d also called the building cute—thiscutebrownstone.

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